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Best and worst of AEW Dynamite- Multiple shots fired at WWE, Audience member gets head shaved

By Riju Dasgupta
Modified Dec 05, 2019 09:38 IST
Jon Moxley took on Joey Janela in the main event
Jon Moxley took on Joey Janela in the main event

I thought that this week's episode of Dynamite was pretty awesome. In fact, I thought that the losses over the last two weeks were necessary to light the fire in AEW's belly and to have them put on a great evening of professional wrestling action.

The AEW roster knew that they had to bring their A-Game to edge WWE NXT out in the Wednesday Night Wars and they did just that, I thought. There was certainly a lot more good than bad on this week's show.

And yet, it wasn't perfect and to me, that stemmed from All Elite Wrestling's own insecurity which has proved to be a massive deterrent when it comes to letting fans enjoy the product. I shall delve on that aspect of the company's programming in this article too.

So, all said and done, I present the best and worst of AEW Dynamite for your reading pleasure!

#1 Best: Jungle Boy to face the World Champion

One of the biggest issues with AEW at the moment is the fact that while there are household names like Chris Jericho and Jon Moxley, the audience does not know a substantial section of the roster. Chris Jericho is working with younger talent, be it Scorpion Sky or Darby Allin to make them household names, and prove that they can hang with the best in the business.

The latest individual to challenge Chris Jericho's throne was one Jungle Boy, who has a very loyal following and can be a pure white-meat babyface if he plays his cards right. Jungle Boy can definitely last 10 minutes with the AEW World Champion and he has a chance to do just that in an upcoming match. This is a very interesting pit-stop on the route to Jon Moxley vs. Chris Jericho.

Speaking of Moxley, I loved the fact that Jericho came down from the audience in the same manner that he'd done last week, to set up a match. Jericho vs. Moxley should be a really fun match.

#1 Worst: Constantly taking shots at WWE and NXT

All Elite Wrestling Superstars have constantly said that they are focused on their own thing and they do not care about what others are up to. And yet, week after week, they keep taking shots at WWE, which, in my estimation at least, considerably waters down their offering.

The clearest indication of this was Britt Baker looking shocked during the whole assault from Nyla Rose on the referee with Excalibur shouting- 'That's Adam Cole's girlfriend'. This was obviously a reference to the cameo she made during TakeOver: WarGames where she had been shown on camera.

Chris Jericho also brought out a brand new list but urged the audience not to act like it was 2016 again. Jericho has a very unique gimmick in AEW and this is quite unnecessary.

I wonder if the whole segment with Brandi Rhodes and the audience member getting her head shaved was a shot at the Straight Edge Society as well!

#2 Best: Dustin Rhodes shines bright

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I was recently listening to a podcast with Eric Bischoff who spoke about the in-ring prowess of the athletes in AEW, which is absolutely world-class in every sense. And yet, because the action is so good, one can often become desensitized to it, because that is all one sees. This is why people who don't do as much like Jon Moxley and Cody Rhodes stand out.

Yet another man who stood out in the opening contest was Dustin Rhodes, who proved that he can still go, at his age and how. Rhodes is loving his time in AEW and you can hear his take on his AEW run, by clicking on the link shared above (an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda's own Gary Cassidy).

I would have never imagined that he would fit right into a tag team with The Young Bucks to take on the Inner Circle in a match, but here we are! Rhodes obviously has a lot more to offer to the business than he was allowed to do in WWE, so AEW is the perfect fit for him!

#2 Worst: An alien?

So again, let me preface this by saying that I think that Kris Statlander is an amazing talent who can do wonders in the ring. I don't even mind her push even though I thought that her victory took away a lot of the oomph that Hikaru Shida had accrued over the past few weeks, as a viable contender for Riho's Championship. However, I can't wrap my head around the fact that she's supposed to be an alien, in the year 2019.

I can buy into the idea of a librarian (or two) who wants to compete in the ring. I'm even okay with the fact that there's a man who considers himself a dinosaur (Luchasaurus) because he explained himself and spoke about his master's degree (it did explain a few things). But why is an alien competing in AEW?

Imagine if Vince McMahon had come up with this concept in 2019. AEW's fanbase would be absolutely brutal towards him!

#3 Best: Two audience members make cameos on AEW Television

Agatha Christie once said- 'Never tell all you know, not even to the person that you know best'. And AEW has been thriving on this kind of storytelling over the past two weeks, with the arrival of the Butcher, Blade, and Bunny last week and with the audience member who mysteriously joined Brandi Rhodes' collective this week.

Allie cut a very interesting promo this week, shedding light on who she was and who her cohorts were as well. I'm sure we will learn who the mysterious woman, who cut her hair in the same manner that members of CM Punk's 'Straight Edge Society' used to, is, next week.

I also liked the idea of Justin Roberts giving money to a child in the audience. Such things are not possible in WWE's overly scripted environment.

The best stories are most certainly the ones that are unpredictable and unexpected.